“With Your Permission,” says the Lord …

Printed in the magazine “Spread the Fire” August 2008

(a publication of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship)

Click here to go to the web site for the article.

http://www.tacf.org/tacforghome/Visitors/spreadthefiremagazi ne/tabid/166/Default.aspx

I believe the fundamental question that the Holy Spirit is asking right now is this:

Is revival welcome again in those places where the Spirit was flowing in the ‘90’s.

“Do you want this?”

Do you want this again, this time at a whole new level?

Can you welcome another visitation of the Holy Spirit of God?

Oh God, please, yes!

In May, my dear pastor friend, Scott McDermott, had a vision of two angels appearing to him.  Scott is a reputable theologian, holding a PhD in New Testament theology.  I will let him tell the story.

John Arnott

[Scott McDermott is the senior pastor of Washington Crossing United Methodist Church in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.  He is adjunct professor at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.]

I was sitting in my office on the afternoon of May 4^th methodically working on my computer.  The office was quiet except for the sound of my laptop keys pounding out the answers to a church document that was long overdue.  I was consumed with the mundane routine trying to meet the pressing deadline when I was suddenly interrupted with a dramatic change of spiritual climate in my surroundings.  The change of spiritual atmosphere was so dramatic that I knew I was becoming enveloped by the presence of God.

Initially perplexed, I glanced up from my laptop to see what appeared to my spiritual eyes as two angelic figures standing before me.  A number of thoughts went through my mind at this point.  I am not an expert on such visitations, nor am I one who is prone always to acknowledge their reality when I hear about them, perhaps because of my upbringing or my education.  Am I imagining this, I wondered.  Are these really angels?

As I paused to evaluate the meaning of the encounter, the sense of God’s presence overwhelmed me.  He would not leave me: in fact, it seemed to intensify.  As I looked more closely at these two angelic figures, they appeared dressed as travelers, one apparently holding a large bag at his side.  My curiosity heightened as I boldly, though timidly, began an inquiry into their appearance in my office.  Why had they come?  I must admit that I was struck with fear.

They responded to my thoughts by indicating that they were traveling angels, sent by the Lord to visit the sites where God had poured out his spirit in the 1990’s.  Their purpose was to see if each place would be open to receive what God was pouring out in this present hour.  If so, they would release it upon that place.

As surprising as their visit was, I was even more surprised by their inquiry.  Was I open?  Was I really open?  Was I ready and hungry for anything God would want to bring no matter what the cost?  That is what they were asking me, and they attentively and sensitively awaited my heartfelt response.  These angelic visitors who had been sent on assignment from God would not go where they were not welcome, nor would they force their way into the lives of those who did not yearn for the Father’s present blessing.

I said, “Yes!  Yes, Lord, more Lord.  Yes, I want everything you want here.”

They told me that if I said yes, there would be more angels arriving.  I sensed it would be more like a heavenly invasion.

Since that time we have begun making immediate changes to our ministry here at the Crossing.  We have already added another service, and have dramatically changed another to welcome this present wave of anointing.  And, our services have taken on a distinctively different flavor.  There is a noticeable increasing fresh anointing.  There has been a fresh and powerful release in intercessory prayer, and this new power seems to come more quickly than before.  With it has come another wave of deepening spiritual hunger.  Things are getting exciting!

I have drawn a few lesions from this encounter:

1.  It is not the method but the message that matters.

After this encounter happened to me, I began to wonder:  Is there an increase in angelic activity elsewhere in the world where God has previously poured out His Spirit?  Now, this may indeed very well be the case, but I realized that God is not limited to a single method of invitation.  Some may dream dreams; others may have visions; while others may be so moved in their personal place of prayer that they realize God is calling to step up into what God is doing.  I don’t believe that we should seek angelic visitations, but rather our desire should be to hear the voice of God.  He chooses the mode of communication.

2.  God’s invitation to join this present move of the Spirit comes with the fulfillment of it 

The angels did not come to simply announce but also to release what God had sent them to accomplish.  They were coming to assist in this release, wherever it was needed.

3.  Revival comes to the hungry, not the passive

This is what provoked me to write the following to our congregation a short time ago.

To all who wish to intercede for the next move of God:

I cannot begin to express the stirring that continues to grow in my spirit day by day.  Last night as I went to bed, my spirit was quaking as if it were registering the seismic impact of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the earth.  I lay awake for hours under the Spirit’s anointing, yearning, hungering for yet more of God’s empowering work upon us all.

As many of you may recall, I have felt for years that God would send a second wave after the work of 1994.  The first wave was a dividing line of sorts, exposing areas where we needed ‘MORE LORD!’  It was designed to be a purifying wave of anointing, so that we could enter into closeness with God.  What is darkness must give way to light.  I learned in those days, that revival comes to those who contend for it.

On April 2^nd in Lakeland, Florida what has become known as the Florida Outpouring began.  Many have been watching this revival on God TV around the world, the power of it is spreading across the continents.

This letter serves as a call to prayer.  Intercessor, now is the time!  Pray for the increase of spiritual hunger.  Now is the time to pursue the anointing of God.  Count me in!